Omerta

When the Deep Throat/Mark Felt story broke last week, a lot of people wondered what's happened to the important whistleblowers of our time. Well, now we know. From the AP:

A Los Alamos lab whistleblower scheduled to testify before Congress was lured to a bar and then badly beaten in an attack his wife and lawyer believe was designed to keep him quiet.

Tommy Hook was in a Santa Fe hospital recovering from a fractured jaw and other injuries, his wife, Susan Hook, said Monday. She said the assailants told him during the attack early Sunday that "if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut."

Tommy Hook has a pending lawsuit against the University of California alleging whistleblower retaliation. He had been scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee later this month about alleged financial irregularities at the nuclear weapons lab.

Police and the FBI said they were investigating.

According to Hook's wife, the 52-year-old lab employee got a telephone call from someone late Saturday night after he was already in bed wanting to meet with him at a Santa Fe bar about 45 minutes from their home.

She said her husband told her the man never showed up, but as he was leaving the topless bar's parking lot, a group of men pulled him from his car and beat him.

"They left him in the parking lot for dead," Hook's lawyer, Robert Rothstein, said Monday at a news conference where pictures of Hook's bruised, bloodied and swollen face were passed around.

His wife, who sobbed when the pictures were distributed, said the attackers "beat him up with their feet first, 'cause he has shoe marks on his face, and then used their fists."

Rothstein said the assailants didn't take Hook's wallet, other personal belongings or his car. In the absence of any other motive, it appears the beating was related to his whistleblowing, Rothstein contended.

"It is clear to us that this was a message," Susan Hook said.

Take a look at the photo of the victim's face. It is important to see exactly how desperate some are these days to prevent others from doing their duty as citizens and patriots.

In the past week, we've had quite a lesson on what will happen to those brave enough to do that duty, haven't we? If you are 91 years old and you spoke out long ago, you will be castigated and derided as a traitor. And if you are scheduled to testify before Congress, you'll be beaten to a bloody pulp and told to "keep your mouth shut." The brazenness is far more dangerous than it is surprising.

A message has been sent. The heroes who would defy it are needed more than ever right now.